Current Status and Issues of the Implementation of 'Therapeutic Education Activity in Korean Special Schools

Park, Seung Hee; Kim, Young Ran

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Commun Sci Disord. 2005;10(2): 101-127.

Seung Hee Park^` , and Young Ran Kim^`

박승희(Seung Hee Park)| 김영란(Young Ran Kim)

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the study was to investigate the current status and issues of ‘therapeutic education activity’ which is one area of the Korean national special school curriculum, in the special elementary schools. The respondents were 82 therapeutic education teachers in 82 special schools. The responses to the survey were examined with descriptive statistics and the answers to the open-ended question were categorized by themes. In particular, the present background of therapeutic education teachers, the possible service ratio of the therapeutic education activity, the main area and the management of therapeutic education activity implementation, the decision-making procedures for service recipients and the scheduling of therapeutic education activities were examined. The results of this research were as follows: 1) there was disagreement about the legal standards of placing the therapeutic teachers and required times for therapeutic education activities on the national special school curriculum; 2) there was the lack of guidelines on supervision and support for the classroom teachers who play a therapeutic teachers’ roles; 3) there was a shortage of qualified therapeutic teachers; 4) selecting the therapeutic education areas based on individual students’ needs; 5) passive mutual interactions between special education and therapeutic teachers in implementing therapeutic education activities; 6) collecting the problems and issues of the current therapeutic education activity as identified by the respondents. The results were discussed in terms of the need for increasing opportunities and enhancing appropriate therapeutic education for individual students in the special schools.